Hanover restricts solar panels

To install system in front of property, extra steps needed. Back, side placement is OK.

August 25, 2010|By Arlene Martínez, OF THE MORNING CALL

When the state and federal governments began offering to help pay a significant amount of a homeowner's cost to install a solar system, Bharatkumar Joshi hurried to take advantage of incentives he had long sought.

In May, after studying the potential energy savings, and the different types of systems available, Joshi set about getting the necessary building permits. But like many municipalities, Hanover Township, Northampton County, had no ordinance regulating solar panels — their size, look or placement.

Joshi had to wait for supervisors to develop one.

Supervisors unanimously passed the ordinance Tuesday night after a public hearing, but to Joshi's chagrin, the ordinance restricts the panels to the side or rear of a property, regardless of whether they would get the benefit of a southern exposure.

That doesn't help Joshi, who lives in the 800 block of Macada Road. To get the full benefit of the solar energy, he would have to place panels on the roof at the front of his house, which faces the south side of the street.

The ordinance doesn't outright prohibit panels on the front of a property, it just requires a homeowner to receive conditional approval before moving forward, a process that in Hanover costs $800, takes up to two months and is "a paperwork nightmare," Joshi said.

Before the 5-0 vote, Joshi argued supervisors should change the language in the proposed ordinance, saying that homeowners whose homes faced the wrong direction were automatically going to find themselves in a longer, more expensive process than if they simply lived across the street.

Supervisor Chairman John Diacogiannis agreed, asking why that part of the ordinance was necessary.

"My point is, if it's technically valid, they're proven their point. My question is why do we have to go through that process," he said.

But in urging the township to vote for the ordinance as is, township Manager John J. Finnigan Jr. said the Planning Commission had taken great steps to ensure the solar systems would be properly regulated.

To Joshi, the ordinance made it seem supervisors weren't interested in alternative energy.

"I just feel all this red tape…why?" he said.

Hanover is one of many municipalities trying to keep up with the changing face of energy. In recent months Forks and Lower Nazareth townships have begun preparing ordinances to better regulate solar systems.

Elam Herr, assistant executive director of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, said he can understand why townships are restricting their location.

"A lot of people have a problem with placing solar panels on the front of their homes for the simple reason...solar panels are distracting and take away from the value of [their] house," said Herr. "Elected officials are hearing that and they're taking that into consideration."

The association has a model solar ordinance townships can use, but it only addresses issues such as setbacks and height restrictions. It doesn't say where to put them, Herr said.

Herr said while the solar industry had come a long way since the solar panels of the 1980s, they should continue to work to make them better blend in with rooftops.

Joshi said he would only pursue the conditional hearing if it looked like there would still be money available at that point to cover the solar system, which Joshi said will cost $25,000 — half of that covered by state and federal grants. The 18-panel, 4.8 kilowatt system would produce between 65-70 percent of Joshi's household's monthly energy needs and pay for itself within four years.